Let’s face it, if you are based in the U.K. rain will be a given.

On our photography courses here in London we often get asked, “How much rain can our cameras endure?”
On some of our photography courses especially our beginners or intermediate, students are nervous to take the camera outside on rainy days.
We can understand this but here we want to discuss the benefits of photographing in the rain and what we can do to achieve amazing images.

Firstly, and most importantly:

The light is AMAZING after a spell of rain… after sheltering yourself and your beloved camera, get out there and photograph.
This is a tip, especially for street or landscape photographers!

Puddles create natural reflections or mirrors and if there is a little wind, this can create an impressionist effect.

Sometimes there can be areas of blue sky after a storm. If your subject is a complementary colour like orange or yellow, this will make your subject stand out and become a very strong visual.

Capture people’s reaction to the rain and how they splash or avoid it. Another tip is to use a higher ISO so you can get faster shutter-speeds to freeze people. Evaluative metering works well. Dusk is a good time to photograph as you can have warmer colours.

Rain becomes more visible when backlit and/ or….. pop in a little flash!

If you are doing some serious photographing in the rain and it is a little more than a light shower you could consider buying “a storm jacket” from somewhere like Vortex Media. If you are on a budget, a slightly un-cooler version would be a plastic bag with elastic bands! Works wonders, honestly! and remember to use the lens hood.

Don’t forget the trusty and sometimes forgotten umbrella to protect yourself and microfiber cloths to wipe down your lens if rain does land on it!